ASPEN, Colo.—At 52 inches around the midsection—off the Division of Wildlife chart for determining weight—euthanizing the majestic black bear for busting through a window was difficult, but not because of its estimated 425 pounds.

“We didn’t get into this business because we hate wildlife,” area wildlife manager Perry Will said as wildlife officer Kevin Wright made preparations to euthanize the bear Wednesday.

“This isn’t on my hands. It’s on the citizens of Aspen’s hands,” Wright said, choking up more than once.

The majestic bear broke into a home near Aspen Grove Cemetery Sunday, leading officials to set a trap that caught the bear Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, the bear was hauled to the wildlife division’s storage yard a mile south of Carbondale where Wright and Will prepared to first tranquilize the bear, then kill it with a fatal mixture of potassium chloride.

Bears that come in contact with humans are usually tagged and relocated. On their third contact with humans, such bears and killed under a two strikes policy for nuisance bears.

No such luck for this bear, the first killed this year in Pitkin County. Because of the bear’s size and aggressiveness, its potential to cause harm was too great, the officials said.

While stressing the homeowner did nothing wrong, wildlife officials said the bear unfortunately learned to associated food with humans.

“This bear right here is not a bad bear,” Will said. “He became a bad bear. That bear didn’t all of a sudden become a house-breaking bear.”

At 10:20 a.m., Wright fired a tranquilizer dart into the bear’s rump. A tarp was placed over the cage to calm the animal and let the drug take effect. After 20 minutes and with the huge bear still conscious, a second dart was fired.

Nearly 40 minutes after the process began, the bear was unconscious, sprawled on the bottom of its cage.

Will, Wright, and another wildlife officer yanked the bear from its cage and rolled him on his back. A syringe filled with the potassium chloride was injected into an artery in the bear’s abdomen.

The bear gave a slow lurch to his right and stopped breathing.

Will said the bear’s prescense in Aspen is an indication that bears could be having a difficult time this year. A late frost combined with the dry conditions heavily damaged the berry crop and all but killed the acorn crop, Wright said.

“He’s king of his range, I guarantee you that,” Will said.

When a bear at the top of the pecking order is searching for food in a town that indicates how poor the natural food crop is, he said.